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65 years of UK Christmas No1s - 1966

Tom Jones - The Green Green Grass Of Home1966

"Green, Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell, is a country song originally made popular by Porter Wagoner in 1965, when it reached No. 4 on the country chart. That same year it was sung by Bobby Bare, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Tom Jones, recorded the song in 1966, when it became a worldwide No. 1 hit. Jones had learned the song from Lewis's version.

Welsh singer Tom Jones, who was appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, visited Colony Records while staying in New York City. On asking if they had any new works by Jerry Lee Lewis, he was given the new country album.

Impressed with the song, Jones recorded and released the song in the UK in 1966 and it reached No. 1 on 1 December, staying there for a total of seven weeks. The song has sold 1.23 million copies in the UK as of November 2012. Jones' version also reached #11 pop, #12 easy listening on the Billboard US charts.

In September 2006, Jones performed the song as a duet with Jerry Lee Lewis during the taping of the latter's Last Man Standing TV special in New York City, and credited Lewis with providing the inspiration behind his own recording.

I have always liked this song. My parents owned this single so I grew up with it around the house and being played a lot on the record player.